It is quarter final day at the European Masters on Friday with eight players doing battle in two sessions of play out in Bucharest. This is the last day of best of seven frame matches with the title being decided over the longer distances over the weekend which acts as even more of an incentive to get through to the next round for all involved.
John Higgins vs Judd Trump
The pick of the quarter finals is the first one of the day as John Higgins meets Judd Trump in a repeat of the 2011 World Championship final. Both men are no strangers to the latter stages of ranking events so this should be a cracker.
You would have to say that both players have played some decent stuff this week. They have both had to come through a deciding frame win to make it this far but you have to give credit to their opponents for that. I don’t think there is a lot between them and the difference in this one will be small margins. That probably makes Higgins the value but I’m on him outright so I don’t need to back him again so I’ll sit this out and hope the Scot makes it through.
Mark Selby vs Alfie Burden
We have the highest ranked player left in the tournament against the lowest in this match. Mark Selby has been a regular winner of titles for a while now while Burden is in just his second major quarter final which is a crazy statistic.
In his other major last eight clash, Burden lost 5-1 to Stephen Maguire in the China Open earlier in the year and I’m expecting him to go the same way here. Selby is just all wrong for Burden. He keeps things tight and at long distance and he scores well enough to take advantage of the chances he is given.
Selby has had a match to get used to his new tip now and I’m expecting him to be pretty ruthless here. We saw Burden nail some great long pots against Walden in the previous round but I’m not convinced he can pot his way past Selby so I’m with the world champion to come through comfortably here.
Mark Davis vs Ronnie O’Sullivan
Mark Davis came through a deciding frame against Liang Wenbo on Thursday to set up this quarter final with a Ronnie O’Sullivan who is yet to fire on all cylinders but who is always a danger at this stage of a tournament.
To give Davis credit the century break he made against Wenbo in that decider was of the highest class but had the Chinese star not had a monster kick in the frame before the Englishman would be out of the tournament. I expect O’Sullivan to win this one and he should win it well but the prices reflect that.
Neil Robertson vs Anthony McGill
This is an interesting quarter final. Robertson doesn’t look to be at his best this season yet but we know the longer he goes in a tournament the harder he is to beat. On the other side of the table Anthony McGill is playing his fourth quarter final of the season already and having already landed a decent prize out in India he is playing with plenty of freedom here.
This should be a close match which again probably makes McGill decent value but as with the earlier match I’m already on him outright so I don’t really need to get involved. I’ll sit back and hope McGill is good enough to get the job done here.
Tips
WON – Back M.Selby (-2.5 frames) to beat A.Burden for a 3/10 stake at 2.38 with William Hill
Back him here:
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